


Back to the Valley

by Haliora



Category: Changeling (Visual Novel)
Genre: Dryad!Corvin, Farmer!Nora, Gen, Harvest Moon AU, farming au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-15
Updated: 2018-11-15
Packaged: 2019-08-23 22:22:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16627520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Haliora/pseuds/Haliora
Summary: In which Corvin is a Dryad and Nora is a farmer just trying to save the island. She's getting along great with everyone...okay, mostly everyone.





	1. A New Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Messing around with AUs. I like Harvest Moon games…so this is happening. It might become a series, but we’ll see.

Ever since Nora moved into the valley to begin a new life, plenty of weird things has been happening. It all started out when she inherited her grandfather’s old farm plot. At the time, she was fed up with corporate life and just city life in general. On a good day, she only had to wait for two trains to pass by (because they were too packed to get on) before she could get on. That was just the normal rhythm of life, but two years into her life at this new city, after being unable to move on the platform in nearly freezing temperatures, she had enough. 

She was fed up with all of the elected officials in the city – they didn’t have the spare three billion dollars to fix this damn problem – but thank the lord some corporation gets a helipad if they come to the city. So in a fit of impulsive decisions and rage, she packed her bags and found herself shaking hands with the local town mayor, who apparently knew her grandfather. 

All of the residents were nice enough, but she spent most of the time on her little farm plot. No one had taken care of it after her grandfather passed away, and the fields over overgrown. Her ‘cozy’ home was in desperate need of repairs, but that was quickly taken care of with the savings she managed to accrue. 

Once she really started exploring the valley, that was when all of the nonsense descended upon her. Somehow, she got roped into reviving the Harvest Goddess after a Harvest Faerie crashed into her face one fateful day. And it wasn’t like she could just say no. Apparently, the valley has been suffering terribly. The fires were weaker, making cooking more difficult. The lands were fallow, and nothing seemed to fix it. The waters were never just right anymore – rain was unpredictable, and the downpours varied wildly in intensity. 

How did she managed to miss all of these red flags? …Well, no one said she wasn’t a rash person. But she’s here now, so there’s not much to do but make the best of it. Her quest to restore the land began and she was tasked with ringing the bells linked to each element. It sounded easy but getting all of the necessary parts together was incredibly hard with the current conditions of the valley. With weak fires, crafting and upgrading her tools were hard. Heck, just growing food was difficult. The ridiculousness of it all was only compounded by the fact that she couldn’t even explain this to any of the town residents. No one would believe her.

And that’s the thing – no one before her tried because no one could see the Harvest Sprite. Or so she thought, but shortly after ringing the first bell to restore the fires, she found out that the resident baker Ewan could sort of see the Harvest Faerie that followed her around. But since he couldn’t hear its words, he was unable to help. Nora was glad to have a confirmation that she hadn’t gone insane, and was hopeful that she found an ally to assist her with all the convoluted tasks she needed to do before she could ring the bells – 

But that didn’t happen. He seemed to be incredibly annoyed at the fact that “some stranger” was able to just “waltz in” and began to solve the valley’s problems when he was at it for ages. She told him off for being petty, but…he hadn’t come around at all. The whole thing was irritating because they were both trying to save the valley. And he wouldn’t help her because of some petty jealousy. Great.

At least with the fires restored, she had much better tools now. Going to the mines to smash away her frustration was incredibly cathartic.


	2. Dryad Involvement

“So let me get this straight,” Nora said slowly, pinching the bridge of her nose. “You’re the spirit of a plant that I saved from being eaten by a cow. Or so you said –”

“Don’t say it like that! It’s true!” the plant-man huffed. “You did save me.”

“Right.” She eyed the leafy outfit on his form. Could it really be considered ‘saving’ if all she did was pat the cow and distracted it? “And you were so grateful –”

The plant-man shook his head vehemently, his fair hair bouncing all about. “No, no, in love with –”

“–grateful of me,” she pressed on, mostly to ignore the growing headache. “And somehow, you miraculously turned into a human and wanted to pay me back. By barging into my home to ‘make my life better’…is that right?”

“Yep, that’s right!” He nodded emphatically and made an exaggerated jump to leap off her bed. She took a deep breath and looked away from the dirt caked on her sheet.

“Okay. Right. What’s your name?”

“It’s Corvin!”

“Corvin.” Nora willed herself to find her inner peace. “Can you tell me how it’s making my life better if you flood my kitchen?”

There was not even a hint of shame on his expression. “I was trying to put out a fire.”

“What about the dirt on my floor?”

“Dirt is earthly and good.”

What did she expect of a plant spirit anyway? “…Okay. But why did you destroy my curtains?”

“You get more sunlight, of course.”

The man looked much too excited now and he bounded in front of the windows and sat down, patting the opened window seat next to him. At that moment, the beams of sunlight just blossomed and wrapped him in a golden cloak. For a split second, she almost believed that the headache had finally smashed the last bits of her sanity.

He looked catastrophically beautiful.


End file.
